Oppo: A Novel

"Oppo is everything a political thriller needs to be: smart, sharp, and incisive—without being cynical. I couldn’t put it down.” —Gillian Flynn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Gone Girl

From National Book Award–longlisted Christopher Beha, a gripping, twisty novel that pulls back the curtain on who really tips the needle of politics and updates the great political thrillers of the past—those from Graham Greene, John LeCarré, and Robert Stone—for our own fractured, tumultuous era

When tech billionaire Romulus Rice buys the Washington Star, the paper’s journalists celebrate, thinking they will finally have the resources to compete with the new media giants and return the Star to its glory days. With a lawless president—Rice’s fellow tech oligarch, Mario Adrian—having seized power through questionable means, the country has never needed their work more. But Rice installs a former tabloid hack with a worryingly friendly relationship to the president as the paper’s new editor, and the staff is left with a choice: stick around to fight the good fight, or jump from a sinking ship.

One of the Star’s hottest young reporters, Keith Reece, chooses to jump—joining a prominent opposition research firm run by former Star reporter Tony Greenstone. His colleague—and work wife—Colleen McDormand stays behind, becoming the paper’s White House correspondent. From their different perches, Colleen and Keith each stumble on a dramatic conspiracy that will ultimately implicate not just President Adrian but also Greenstone and Rice. As they tussle professionally and personally, the pair comes to question how much they can trust each other—or anyone else. 

Taking place over the course of a single, crucial election season, Oppo builds toward a startling climax in which Colleen and Keith are both forced to question who and what they’ve been working for all along, and whether they are rebuilding their world . . . or destroying it.